


Important Butterflies

by Tarlan



Category: Primeval
Genre: Drama, M/M, Time Travel, Trope Bingo Round 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 18:39:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6435859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James is offered a chance for a better future but to accept would be to make a deal with a devil in female form.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Important Butterflies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Spikedluv](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spikedluv/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Second Chance](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6436114) by [Spikedluv](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spikedluv/pseuds/Spikedluv). 



> This story came about after **Spikeluv** set a challenge for both of us to write a Primeval story to the same **trope_bingo** Round 6 prompt: deal with the devil
> 
> We had set a word count but as both of us exceeded it by about the same amount we'll accept it still as a win!

In all his years as the administrative head of the ARC program, watching for anomalies and taking action to protect the public as best he could, James had never stepped through an anomaly. Until today he had no intention of ever doing so but the latest incursion had shot all his best efforts to Hell, and for this he blamed Nick Cutter. He winced because Cutter had been dead for years, murdered by his nasty wife, but as the devil he had struck a bargain with was none other than Helen Cutter, James felt the object of blame was warranted.

Helen Cutter was supposed to be dead too, killed thousands of years in the past at the dawn of mankind, but if James had learned one thing from those years dealing with anomalies it was to expect the unexpected.

All those theories of temporal physics - that had given him such a headache when he tried to read about them - had ended up offering two possibilities. One. Nothing anyone did in the past affected the future because the very fact that it had happened in the past had dictated the future. The line once writ, to paraphrase some old saying. Two. The Butterfly Effect. Every action had consequences. He already knew which theory he subscribed to after Cutter returned through an anomaly insisting everything had changed, though it wasn't the misplacement of someone called Claudia Brown that had personally bothered James but the loss of his knighthood. He had been Sir James Peregrine Lester in Cutter's original time line. Yet he knew it really wasn't that simple, that both theories applied depending on which side of the chard layer you were standing when someone inadvertently crushed a butterfly in the past. Except it had to be a very important butterfly or the field team members would have been tripping over their changed lives every time they ventured into the past and returned.

Silently he fumed, wondering which of those bumbling idiots had cost him his knighthood in this time line before deciding he'd continue putting all the blame on Nick Cutter.

James stopped in front of the anomaly, holding out his hand to let his fingers dip into the shimmering shards of fractured time. When Helen Cutter came through several hours earlier he'd assumed at first that she was an earlier version of herself from before that fatal confrontation with Danny, jumping in and out of time like a temporal Jack-in-the-box; a much loathed childhood toy that had fed his dislike of nasty surprises. The surprise couldn't get any nastier than finding Helen Cutter waiting for him in his London flat, and an anomaly in his bathroom.

She had made him an offer too good to refuse, and that should have been his first clue that she had an ulterior motive. Helen Cutter never did anything without expecting to benefit in some fashion, making him wonder how Cutter could have been such a poor judge of character in marrying her. Perhaps it was an unfair remark though. Helen was a very clever woman who could be extremely charming, but also manipulative, sadly reminding him of his own ex-wife, though at least the ex-Mrs. James Lester had never displayed any psychopathic tendencies beyond wanting everything he owned in the divorce settlement.

"Not having second thoughts are we?"

James caught the challenging smirk on Helen's lips as she brushed past him almost seductively, disappearing instantly. He gritted his teeth, reminding himself of what he hoped to gain from this foray into another time zone. Closing his eyes he took that final step, feeling the heat of the Permian landscape so pleasant compared to the damp and cold left behind in early twenty-first century London. He was glad he'd taken the time to change into more suitable clothing as his suit would have been ruined. At least he'd previously broken in the hiking boots during a rare weekend walking across the moors. The moors were not quite the same as this arid, almost desert climate but the boots were definitely better equipped to handle this terrain than his hand-stitched dress shoes. He was also glad he hadn't childishly refused the hat Helen had taken from the top shelf of his wardrobe, piqued more from knowing she must have spent a little time snooping around his flat before he arrived home.

Helen was already a distant figure, heading down an incline of volcanic rock and ash dotted with scraggy plants, so he picked up his pace and followed.

"This better be worth it," he murmured under his breath.

He caught up with her, ignoring her surprise as she'd likely pegged him for an out-of-condition pen pusher. She pointed up the slope to a rocky outcrop topped with a few conifers.

"That's where the base camp was set up..." He started up the slope only to stop when she continued, "In twenty years time." She smiled. "We're heading this way."

He glanced up, aware it would be useless for him to leave his own version of a very important butterfly on that outcrop as Cutter's first arrival in the Permian occurred years after the second fatal mission. One of the 'line once writ' events in the past that had all the potential for causing a paradox of devastating consequences should he try to interfere, though more likely whatever note he left here and now in the past would simply be erased or missed when Cutter arrived twenty years later. Still, he considered the possibility. He could leave a warning about Oliver Leeks, and about Philip's dangerous New Dawn experiment that had seen the advent of a terrible future for mankind.

James shivered slightly in remembrance despite the almost oppressive heat. Connor and Matt thought they had stopped the convergence anomaly in time but the chain reaction had started thousands of years in the past. Here to be exact. What he didn't quite understand yet was why Helen Cutter needed him when she'd quite happily meddled with time alone for years. He also had to bear in mind she was an Eco-terrorist, seeing humans as a parasite infesting the planet. Judging by some of the people he saw on his daily commute, he didn't totally disagree, but eliminating the entirety of the human race at the dawn of mankind wasn't the solution, and neither was manipulating Philip into creating New Dawn and starting the apocalypse.

He recalled her words to him back in their own time.

"I never wanted to destroy everyone, James, but you can see the mess we've made of the planet. Too many people fighting for too few resources."

"And I simply don't understand why you felt a need to accelerate the process. Certainly if Matt is to be believed then it wasn't just everyone you destroyed but everything, except for those ugly predators. Philip's New Dawn would have left the world a toxic wasteland."

She smiled at him. "What happened with Claudia Brown proved a change in the past could rewrite the future. Your future. My future. The future of the people we care about most."

"Personally I don't believe you've ever cared for anyone other than yourself, so if I'm to believe you want to repair the damage you caused then what are you proposing?"

"I will give you back the future you wanted for yourself."

James narrowed his eyes because he was well versed in political non-speak and could spot an evasion a mile away. A future he wanted for himself could be anything, but most certainly not what he truly wanted as that was well out of reach. He decided to play her little game for now.

"And in return?"

"You accompany me on a little adventure."

He couldn't think of a single reason why she would need his presence unless what she actually wanted was his absence at a time when Governments across the world were starting to look to the ARC for answers. Certainly he had been in talks recently with the Canadian government concerning two exceptionally gifted scientists going missing through different anomalies just a few weeks apart - Evan Cross and Howard Kanan. Connor had met Cross twice, both times to stop the man from stomping on an important butterfly.

His thoughts came back to the current present, thousands or was it millions of years in the past. All he could do was go along with whatever she wanted for now and hope he figured out her true motive before the crucial point of no return.

They walked for another hour at a steady pace, staying well off the game trail in case any predators were lying in wait. Although he had never stepped through an anomaly he had seen some of those predators close up in the ARC. Too close, he thought. He still had the occasional nightmare from his brushes with death and unconsciously rubbed the scar from the last attack by a future predator at the ARC. Several more of the creatures were on the loose and according to Abby they bred like rabbits, several litters a year, so he knew it was only a matter of time before he met one of them face-to-face. Reports had been coming in for weeks now, of increased attacks around the country, but James knew the worst was yet to come. He'd seen the images brought back from the more recent future by Captain Beckett and the others. The rusty hulks of cars littering the abandoned future City of London had registration plates no more than a few years ahead of his time, and James didn't believe for one second they had done enough to avert that future, or even postpone it. The handwriting was on the wall, and it was written in the blood of thousands.

"Just up here," Helen said, and he watched her a moment before following.

"I still don't understand my purpose here."

She smiled back at him, knowingly, before stepping through the side of the mountain, seemingly straight through solid rock.

"What the devil...?" Sticking his hand out he was a little perturbed when his fingers met no resistance, but he'd not come this far to balk now so he closed his eyes and stepped forward, opening them when he heard Helen's derisive laugh.

The cave was huge and filled with electronic equipment. A giant of a man stopped and stared at him but James had seen his face before, recognizing one of Helen's clone soldiers used for cleaning up her mess. Another clone came out from further back in the cavern, staring at James until Helen ordered both clones back to work.

"What is this place?"

"Let's just call it... home."

"Your home presumably as I have no intention of staying here any longer than I have to."

"And you have so much to rush back to?" Helen asked, and he was really beginning to hate that woman.

After the second near-death by future predator in the ARC he had re-evaluated his life and found it severely wanting. His marriage had been one of convenience to improve his political prospects, but as the years past he had spent more and more time staying in the London flat alone. By the time they divorced last year they were practically strangers, and though he felt a twinge of regret at leaving her just when the world was coming to a slow and excruciating end, he'd known she wouldn't remain single for long. He was well aware of her various affairs over the years but as long as they were discreet, causing no scandal that could harm his career, he hadn't truly cared less. According to his daughter, the ex-Mrs. James Lester was soon to become the new Mrs. Felix Kingslyn.

God help the man, he thought uncharitably.

Of course any potential scandal revolving around his ex-wife's love affairs paled into insignificance against his own extra-marital desires, fortunately kept well concealed at a cost to his personal happiness. Once more he felt aggrieved that he had gained a knighthood in a previous time line as compensation for his personal sacrifice when he felt he was so much more deserving of that accolade in this time line. The old _Sir_ James Lester had never stared down a future predator twice and lived to tell the tale. Now, with the whole world slowly going the way of the Dodo, he sincerely doubted he would ever gain-regain that honorific title. Such a waste as he had gone to great lengths to push away the only person who had ever made him feel alive and whole, who could have made him happy, and even though James no longer had reason to hide his desire for another man, the opportunity was lost forever. Dead and buried, and he had this woman to thank for that, making him wonder anew why he hadn't simply shot her on sight.

"I think I've entertained you enough. I've accompanied you here and now I want to know why."

"I already told you. I plan to give you back the future you wanted for yourself."

James gave Helen his most disdainful glare because she had snatched that future from him before he was even aware it was what he wanted. "And how do you propose to do that?"

She smiled again and led him through the cavern, along a roughly hewn corridor to a small cave containing a prison cell.

"I'd ask if you're here to rescue me at last, but I don't see you holding a gun to her head."

James stared in shock as Nick Cutter sat up, elbows balanced on his knees, hands held loosely together. His red-blond hair was longer, shaggier than James recalled but his pale blue eyes were just as piercing, full of life and intelligence. Those eyes narrowed.

"You didn't know I was here."

James took an unconscious step forward but then his brain caught up with his heart.

"Another clone," he stated. "Just what I needed," he added, voice dripping with sarcasm to hide the shock and pleasure of seeing Cutter again.

Helen sidled around him, leaning against the cave wall close to the cell and almost within reach of Cutter, no doubt to add to her ex-husband's frustration. She really was a bitch, James thought.

"No. This is the original. I destroyed the clone."

Destroyed. The bitch shot him in the chest and left him to die in Connor's arms, and all this time they believed she had killed the real Cutter. _He_ had believed it was the real Nick Cutter. For all the moans he overhead about his lack of feelings or compassion in the ARC, she didn't see the clones as human at all, and had no empathy whatsoever for even the one of her own ex-husband, or the people who had loved and admired him. Clone or not, he had been real to them. Flesh and blood and bone. What he couldn't understand was why she would create a second Cutter clone and give herself no control over his actions, or why she would set him loose in the ARC to try to stop her first clone... unless it was simply to fool them all into believing Cutter was dead so they never went searching for him.

So that begged the question of why she was willing to let them know now... or rather, let _him_ know Nick Cutter was still alive.

Nick had straightened at Helen's words, eyes wide in shocked realization, obviously not aware until now of what she had done with his clones. James was surprised as he would have expected Helen to gloat about it, if only to hurt him, or perhaps she wanted to keep him suspended in hope of rescue. Cruelty was a trait he had come to associate with Helen Cutter. James played for unfeeling nonchalance once more.

"So unless you plan to keep me in suspense forever, how does this revelation provide me with the future you promised?"

"I'll leave you two boys to figure it out."

Helen walked away without a backwards glance. Once James realized the only way to free Nick was to get hold of the key for the electronic device, he discovered Helen and her Cleaner clones were gone. The key sat on the console, prominently displayed, and he returned quickly to unlock the cell. Nick had been unconscious on the journey to the cavern, relying on James to navigate them back to the anomaly.

"This was the spot," he murmured, and Nick nodded, looking around them.

"Same place as the last two times."

"So when does it open again?"

Nick shrugged. "Far as I know, when we come through the second time as that was several years earlier than the first time."

James rubbed his temple, feeling a headache building. "And we don't have the equipment to open it ourselves."

They were marooned in the past, just like Connor, Abby and Danny after they went after Helen that final time. This was the bargain he had made with the devil though how she knew how much he wished he could have a future with the man he loved by his side, with no politics or scandals to sour it, he didn't know. He'd spent the whole of his life being careful, making certain to keep any and all temptations at arm's length. He wasn't even sure his ex-wife knew. Certainly he'd never breathed a word of it to her.

With nothing left to do, they turned back towards the cavern.

****

**Twenty-Two Years Later:**

The urgent beep sounding through the cavern had them both on their feet quickly. They had spent the past twenty-plus years waiting for this moment, discovering each other fully in the process, and making a life for themselves that was surprisingly good. Helen had left enough supplies to last them through the years, including luxuries that allowed them to turn the cavern into a comfortable home. Nick continued with his research into evolutionary zoology, and James now had the time to relax, to read books and watch movies, using his organization and pen pushing skills to maintain their creature comforts.

They crawled into bed together on the third week together, when they finally accepted there was no way back, and as far as James knew, neither of them had any regrets for what followed.

"I'll get the gun," Nick stated.

Aware the time was approaching, they had been ready for weeks, and they set out immediately, heading towards the rocky outcrop. They reached it to find everything set up, ready to use the future predator young as a means of locating the anomaly linking them to their future world. Helen looked startled when they stepped out, allowing the two Nick Cutters to meet face-to-face. With the flick of a switch James turned on the noise generator that froze the adult predator into place before it could launch its first attack. Captain Ryan hesitated only a moment before firing.

"What's going on?" the younger Nick asked, looking between them.

"Fixing your mistakes, Cutter," James responded, and promptly destroyed all the future predator young in a spray of bullets. "Now run!"

Moments later the Gorgonopsid arrived but all it found was a ready meal of future predators to devour before it headed out. Helen was livid but her rant only lasted a few seconds before his Nick cut in.

"You left me a note in which you said, the future is more important than either of us. I'm about to do the whole world a great favor," he added, and sent a bullet through her skull.

On the walk back to the anomaly, they explained everything. The anomalies were a natural phenomena for when the north and south magnetic poles shifted. They would eventually phase out as long as no one interfered, so all they needed to do was be ready to contain anything that came through until after convergence, and then wait for the world to settle down.

When they reached the anomaly, James and his Nick Cutter hung back.

"You're not coming?"

James shook his head. "I'm not sure what I would do back in 21st Century London." He glanced at Nick. "This is our home now."

The anomaly closed down behind them, and James knew when they came back through in several years time - their first time in the Permian - they would find no mysterious, abandoned camp and only one dead, female body buried on the rocky outcrop; Helen's body. They would find no one waiting for them next time.

"Do you think we've crushed an important butterfly?" James asked, aware he would never know if they had managed to avert the terrifying apocalypse by killing the baby future predators and Helen Cutter.

"Oh yes," Nick replied, and James knew he was thinking more of Helen than the predator babies. "Definitely important enough to change history."

He pulled James to him and kissed him sweetly, a kiss of long-time friends and lovers.

"Let's go home, James."

END  
 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Second Chance](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6436114) by [Spikedluv](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spikedluv/pseuds/Spikedluv)




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